Non-Quaternary Pride Flag
Non-quaternary or nonquaternary (“quaternary” meaning something in four sections) describes people with genders that cannot be summarized as simply man/woman nor the absence of being a man/woman (ie. “non-men”/“non-women”)
[ID: Two pride flags.
Image one: The non-quaternary flag. A pride flag with 5 horizontal stripes and a black diagonal cross/saltire layered overtop. The stripes from top to bottom are blue, aqua, a thin white stripe, pink and orange.
Image two: The alternate non-quaternary flag. A pride flag with 5 horizontal stripes and a grey diagonal cross/saltire layered overtop. The stripes from top to bottom are blue, aqua, a thin white stripe, pink and orange. The only visual differences between this flag and the former is slightly lower saturation and contrast.
ID End.]
Stripes & Saltire Meaning
Blue: Men Aqua: Genders that are not women (”non-women”) White: The gender binary Pink: Women Orange: Genders that are not men (”non-men”) Saltire: The inability to fit within or the rejection of quaternary gender categorization
Flag Design Concept
Other than the obvious blue for men, pink for women, the colours selected for “non-men” and “non-women” respectively specifically contrast their man/woman counterparts. (ie. the stripe for “non-(wo)men” contrasts with the stripe for (wo)man.) The small white stripe in the center bisects the flag into men/”nonwomen” and women/”nonmen”, which represents the criticism of how the gender quaternary lumps “non-men” with women and “non-women” with men in a way reminiscent of the gender binary. The saltire layered overtop of the stripes functions like a "crossing out" of the rest of the flag.
I tried to make a more accessible version of this flag with lower saturation and contrast to avoid eye strain but I have a hard time ascertaining how well it accomplishes that so feel free to make a better alternative if this one is lacking.
This flag is meant to be critical of the gender quaternary and especially it’s prescriptive use for the sake of gatekeeping. The terminology of “non-man” and “non-women” was used in this post mostly to name the language this term/flag stands in opposition to but the terms themselves have a very problematic history so I discourage using the terms uncritically, even within the new context of the gender quaternary.
As always do not apply the term non-quaternary prescriptively to others; this is meant to be used by people who find this term useful towards describing their experiences and similarly people which this term does not resonate with deserve to have that respected as well.
